Canadian high commission awards four govt officials
The High Commission of Canada yesterday awarded four government officials for demonstrating leadership in efforts to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh.
Md Gaus, divisional commissioner, Barisal; Md Mostafa Kamal, deputy commissioner, Khulna; Md Shahbuddin Khan, deputy commissioner, Jamalpur; and Syed Faruq Ahmed, upazila nirbahi officer, Kaliganj, were honoured at a ceremony held at a hotel in the capital in observation of the International Day of the Girl Child 2015.
Talking to The Daily Star, Mostafa Kamal, who was the first to develop a detailed district action plan in Bangladesh to eliminate child marriage from Khulna district, said, "This January the rate of child marriage was 70 percent, but now according to an assessment by Unicef, the rate went down to 40 percent." Kamal spread messages about the impacts of child marriage through the use of Pot Song, a traditional music of southern Bangladesh where stories are told through pictures painted on pots. His efforts were supported by Rupantar and funded by Unicef.
Initiatives of Shahbuddin Khan, who was absent, were highlighted. He developed a database of 42,000 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 in 23 unions of Jamalpur, where Unicef is working to prevent child marriage.
Canadian High Commissioner Benoît-Pierre Laramée lauded the awardees. The nation funds Plan Canada with US$1.5 million and has been contributing US$3.75 million to Unicef in an effort to end child marriage.
Tarana Halim, state minister for posts, telecommunications and information technology, stressed the importance of providing opportunities to girls to prosper.
Replying to queries regarding the use of Facebook through alternative means, Tarana said such users are easy to track as there is less traffic and they are using limited bandwidth.
She added that users accessing Facebook through alternative means ran the risk of getting their IDs hacked.
United Nations Resident Coordinator Robert Watkins also spoke at the event.
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